The EU has been subsidising the denudation of our oceans to the tune of €4.4 billion over a 12 year period. Spain, possibly the most repacious fishing country on earth, got 48% of the subsidies dispensed.

A huge Spanish trawler, well known for its over-exploitation of critically endangered Mediterranean bluefin tuna, enjoyed EU subsidies of more than €4m. Three other fishing vessels blacklisted by Greenpeace were given handouts running into millions.

In the current EU budget period of 2007-13, Brussels is handing out a similar level of subsidies of €4.3bn.

This money is spent on a European fishing fleet that currently stands at nearly 100,000 boats, and is by any standards vastly over-capacity. To make matters worse these vessels are targeting fish stocks that are already overfished.

It would be hard to imagine a similar situation on land, where wild animals are hunted to near extinction with the aid of European taxpayers money. It is a legalised, government funded destruction on an unimaginable scale, pure and simple.